Historical YA fiction with a plucky heroine and lots of twists in the plot. Great fun! ( )

This book far exceeded my expectations. I went into this book knowing only this:

An eccentric recluse.

A self-absorbed newspaper magnate.

A shady footman.

A mansion with a secret.

And one girl who has the moxie to see everything for what it is.

That was all I had to go by. Once I realized this was a middle grade novel I had picked up at the library, I was not sure what I would think of it. I am an avid YA reader, but I have not read a younger book since I was a kid, so this was a new experience for me.

This novel has art (as an AP art history student, I loved this), it was set in the late 1920's in New York City (one of my fave time periods), and it had a lot of mystery. This novel had so many elements that I really enjoyed. I was so pleasantly surprised by this.

The characters were what was expected but at the same time, they were the complete opposite of expected. This whole novel is so intriguing, I loved the twists and turns.

I so recommend this!

I can not wait to continue reading middle grade. ( )

Not really what I expected. Thought it would be more of a mystery with clues and suspense but there really were only two or three clues that didn't really lead anywhere. ( )

It was a 2.5 read fir e. I couldn't get into the other characters besides Martha. It was also so slow. ( )

I've heard the term "threw me out of the story" so much it has almost ceased meaning anything to me. Until yesterday. Very early on in this book the 11 year old protagonist blurts out "Hold the phone!" Which struck me as really odd for 1928. It threw me out of the story. I literally put the book down to go look up when the phrase started being used. (FYI, Dictionary.com says it came about in the second half of the 1900s, which is a little later than 1928.)

I actually thought this was supposed to be one of those adult books with a child narrator. I realized very quickly that it was not. My own fault. I don't hold that against it; I enjoy a good children's book and this one had some decent moments. But in the end, I found it a little flat. I just doubted too many things. The classic "You had me at 'hello' " became "You lost me at 'hold the phone'." ( )